Shared workspace provider WeWork has hired Brookfield Properties' former boss Sandeep Mathrani as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors, effective 18 February, 2020.
Mathrani will report to Marcelo Claure, who will remain executive chairman. He succeeds co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham, both of whom helped stabilize WeWork over the past several months. Minson and Gunningham will remain with the company through a transition period to ensure a smooth onboarding process.
Mathrani most recently served as CEO of Brookfield Properties’ retail group. Prior to that, he served as CEO of GGP Inc. for eight years, during which the company was recapitalized. Following eight years of growth, it was sold to Brookfield Property Partners in August 2018.
Prior to joining GGP in 2010, Mathrani was president of retail for Vornado Realty Trust, where he oversaw the firm’s US retail real estate division and operations in India, comprised principally of office properties. During his tenure, he was responsible for stabilizing and growing the portfolio. Before that, he spent nearly a decade as executive vice president at Forest City Ratner, where he was tasked with starting and growing a new platform of retail properties across the five boroughs of New York City.
Claure said: 'Over the past 100 days since I joined WeWork, we have made tremendous progress strengthening the business. As an important first step, we have recapitalized the business and have a plan that will provide us access to in excess of $2.5 bn in liquidity to execute our growth plans. With a strong liquidity position in place, we have also established a five-year, growth-led transformation plan that we believe will position WeWork to achieve profitability on an adjusted EBITDA basis by 2021 and positive free cash flow in 2022. We continue to make important changes to implement a strong management team that better enables the Company to execute.'
Claure continued: 'During this time, we have led an exhaustive search to identify a collaborative partner who is dedicated to the future success of WeWork. Sandeep is that person. He is the partner of choice with the right skills and experience as we work to execute WeWork’s transformation. He is a proven leader with turnaround expertise in the real estate industry.'
